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Light Magic

While running a series of Monochromatic UV germicidal range finding experiments, Barry Ressler created a series of images that Pink Floyd would be proud of. To create these images Mr. Ressler placed a data DVD near a window that was blocked by a shade while his exposures were being conducted. He inadvertently placed a prism and a quartz spacer on top of the DVD and when the shade was opened, the angle of the rays of the sun onto the DVD surface reflected through the prism and quartz onto a wall yielding the first image.

When light goes from one medium to another it bends and some light rays may reflect or bounce back within the object if the object is made of glass or quartz like material. In Mr. Ressler’s inadvertent experiment, he is able to demonstrate these principles in relationship to the behavior of light as the rays bounce around the room, separating to reveal the different wavelengths that belong to different colors of light in the visible light spectrum. This prism is responsible for the effect that created the rainbows and color schemes captured in the photos. Another aspect of the quartz that must be taken into consideration is that when light reflects within an object it can make one side of the object appear to be a mirror. In the second picture, the red on the top of the quartz is there because of this effect, reflecting the red of the base off the top of the quartz while refracting or bending the light to create the curved shape that is seen in the quartz.

Ressler shot these images with digital 16MP Hasselblad "V" system with 50MM lens.